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Spark Plug Wire Caps

I bought these caps from a vendor in the UK, one of the well known suppliers. When the caps arrived, I placed them on some Champion plugs. They do seem to “click” onto the top of the plug, but once in place they wiggle. The fit is a little loose.

I asked the vendor, and they stated theat the caps should work fine and are the right spec for an Austin Healey 3000. I have generally had good experience with this vendor in the past.

I have seen these caps on other cars at car shows. As can be seen, I use the recommended Champion plug.

I am curious if anyone else has had an experience with them. I have not installed them yet. I would like to use them, but not if it compromises the cars reliability.

Re: Spark Plug Wire Caps

I once bought a set of 'bumble bee' wires with caps already attached, from one the UK major suppliers. The caps seemed too hard and plasticky and never fit as well as I thought they should. I removed them and now use NGK caps and plugs.

Re: Spark Plug Wire Caps

Actually one of my concerns is that, even though they have the “Champion” name ... were they really manufactured by Champion?..... or a knock-off with the vintage look.

I appreciate all the feed back, and glad this spurred some conversation. I have to say that I like the way that they look, but not too convinced that it is acceptable to have loose fitting spark plug caps from a performance/reliability standpoint.

Re: Spark Plug Wire Caps

Originally Posted by BG 62AH

Actually one of my concerns is that, even though they have the “Champion” name ... were they really manufactured by Champion?..... or a knock-off with the vintage look.

I appreciate all the feed back, and glad this spurred some conversation. I have to say that I like the way that they look, but not too convinced that it is acceptable to have loose fitting spark plug caps from a performance/reliability standpoint.

You already own them. Why not install them? You can test each wire with a timing light and see if it has a miss.

Re: Spark Plug Wire Caps

I have found that any of the hard plastic or bakalite plug caps do wobble after they have clipped on the plug. I have found no loss of performance due to that on a street driven engine. But one issue of the open hard caps is that they certainly are not water or moisture proof. When I was on tour this past summer in the Smoky Mountains I found that each morning after a bit of a night time shower, the Healey started and idled fine but sputtered around awhile till everything warmed up and dried off. I am still using the original style Lucas hard caps. No water proofness here.

About TV Shows-
"...you really can't restore a car in 10 days. I don't want to watch a race where people have to restore it in a week. It's not going to drive, and those cars never work. In real life, it takes years to get it right. " Jay Leno.

Re: Spark Plug Wire Caps

I had the hard caps for years and had some issues with the wires occasionally coming a little loose from the screw threads.

Found a guy in upstate NY who has a business making wiring for classic cars (Duesenbergs, Packards, etc). He sold me some unmarked black metal-core wire and clamp-on clips inside of tight-fitting rubber boots. That's what I run now. Not sure it runs any better, but one less thing to fiddle with.

I've been using NGK plugs since my first motor vehicle (Yamaha Trail 80).